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July 2021 - Update

 
 
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Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project

After three months of hard core cross-stitching and laborious unstitching, I’ve completed the final cross-stitch piece for my art book project funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. July will be spent reviewing all of the stories submitted through my open call and carefully curating/selecting which ones to include in the book. I will also begin the design and layout of the book using InDesign. It’s really rewarding to see months of work come together and I can’t wait to show off the book when it’s all done!

 
 

Recording: Feminist Craft of Care in Times of Crisis

Back in May, I was one of three artist’s that presented and participated in a panel discussion as part of the public programming for Cinevolution’s Digital Carnival Z. Now there’s a recording of the full event available to view on youtube!

Moderated by Minah Lee, Associate Curator.

How have the labours of women artists been affected by the challenges of the ongoing pandemic? By centering feminist understandings of time and intergenerational connections, can we resist normalized and privileged cruelties practiced by capitalist patriarchy in these unprecedented times?

This panel invites you to the works of Lena Chen, Mallory Donen, and Sarah Shamash, three women artists who are crafting "care culture" in their communities through their art practice and subverting the expected outcomes of feminized labours. Lena Chen is a Chinese American writer and artist creating performances and socially engaged art in live and virtual contexts. Mallory Donen is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Vancouver, exploring processes rooted in traditional craft passed down by generations of women in her family. Sarah Shamash’s projects often underline geopolitics, feminist thought, and historical difference as a marker for understanding the world and worldings in media histories. Threading together realities of gender, labour, and surveillance, the artists' dialogue will expose gendered bodies in resistance, woven into the textile and tactility of the digital world and beyond.

This artist panel is part of the public program series curated by Minah Lee for Cinevolution's Digital Carnival Z, featuring UNION by Featured Artists Nancy Lee 李南屏 and Kiran Bhumber ਕਿਰਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ ਭੰਬਰ.

Discover the rest of the events in the series at www.DigitalCarnival.ca.


Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans

I’m excited to share a new video work that I created as a response to the pandemic. The work is intended as comic relief from the anxieties that someone might be experiencing now that state of emergency restrictions are being lifted. How do we start functioning as social human beings again, after such an extended period of isolation? What is normal?

Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans is an instructional video created for humans starting over in a social setting. Have you been quarantined during a pandemic? Do you need a guide for social interactions that use to be second nature? Then, this is the video for you! Or maybe existing in society has always been awkward for you? If so, this guide will introduce you to the social basics and help you learn how to be more “normal”.

This project provides a serious reflection of society's ever-changing definition of “normal”. Humour, irony, and sheer ridiculousness are used as tools to confront discomforts and fears, as individuals are re-introduced to societal interactions.

June 2021 - Update

  • Inside the Studio

  • Video Sound Archive

  • Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project

  • Open Call for Anonymous Stories - Deadline June 30


Inside the Studio

Last week I took some long overdue portraits in my studio. I wanted to photograph myself amongst my art and some of the tools I use while embroidering/knitting. On the walls you can see works from my thesis exhibition, Glitch Series, and System Failure series. On the floor is Ouroboros (which I like to refer to as my big ball of yarn) and to the left is the wooden French Knitting loom that I use to re-knit finger knitted strands of yarn.

I have two embroidery stands in my studio. The first one has a rectangular frame and currently holds my ongoing work in progress Stitching Loose Ends. The second one functions more like a clamp stand, which means it can hold various types of frames. In the photographs, you can see it is clamping an embroidery hoop for cross-stitching the handkerchief patterns for my art book project. In another photograph, I am sitting in a wingback chair with a granny square afghan and arm rest covers that I crocheted myself (with a little help from my mom for the covers).


Video Sound Archive

Starting on June 4 @pm ET my video project Part 2: What Happens to a Stressed System? will be part of the first season of featured artists for a virtual video exhibition Video Sound Archive.

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Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project

Last month I continued to tirelessly cross-stitch patterns of handkerchief scans for my art book project. I have completed cross-stitching six of the nine patterns. Only three more to go and I should finish them by the end of June! Then I will begin working on the layout of the art book using InDesign.


Open Call for Anonymous Stories - Deadline June 30

Reminder that I will be accepting submissions for stories till the end of June. Everyone is welcome to submit their experience of having to hide their emotional/physical pain in order to avoid pity or shame for being too sensitive. Please also feel free to share!


 
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September 2020 - Update

Over the past month, I’ve been writing, painting, cross-stitching, and finishing two new video works. I’ve been working on my proposal, budget and supplemental responses for the Canada Council Research & Creation Grant. Now that I’ve received edits and feedback from a few peers, the next step will be for me to work on revisions.

I’ve also been working on the second painting in the Translation series, painting one 1/4 inch square at a time. I’ve been trying to figure out what the final presentation or form this series will take. I think I’ve landed on the decision to combine all 9 pieces into a stitched (quilt-like) grid. I’m interested in the juxtaposition of using the medium of painting and combining it with female craft-based processes. I’ll do this by using a needle and thread to hand sew the painted pieces on canvas together.

I completed another cross-stitch piece System Failure 02, which is part of a series of three I’m currently working on. The cross-stitched images are partially “unfinished” in order to give the appearance that it is “glitched”. I like to think of them as glitches within glitches. The second glitch or system failure refers to the glitch that occurs when the human machine (me, the artist) executes the project.

System Failure 02, 8x10 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2020

System Failure 02, 8x10 inches, embroidery floss, Aida cloth, 2020

Lastly, I’ve finished two new video works below. Part 1: Introduction - What Am I? interrogates the definition of artist, machine, and woman. The video documents a month long process where even rows of white thread are cross-stitched for a few minutes each day. At the onset of my menstrual cycle, I proceed to unstitch and undo all of the work that was done prior. There are pressures and expectations that come with being a woman and an artist. As a woman, it’s embedded in my biology to reproduce, but that doesn’t mean that I will. The audio track that plays throughout the video poses questions surrounding productivity and ponders what it means to go against what is typically expected of a programmed machine. As an artist if I’m not producing work, I often feel guilty, as though I am ignoring the very thing that I am programmed to do. Can I be an artist and a woman and not produce? Or does this go against the very nature of my existence?

Part 2: What Happens to a Stressed System? shows how societal pressures that come from being an artist, machine, and woman, can lead to an overwhelmed system that is doomed to fail. The video begins with a functioning system of productivity, consistency, and archival documentation. As the video progresses, glitches begin to integrate and disrupt the flow of the system in both the video and audio components of the piece.

Coming Home

My first year in the MFA program is almost complete. I will be home in two weeks and I couldn't be any more impatient. I find myself missing the mountains, especially since everyone from BC has been posting photos of the nice weather all over social media. This longing for the mountains inspired me to paint a landscape in my studio the other day. Here is how it all came together. 

I started by using a paint brush and india ink to create an outline of mountains, a lake, and some trees. I visualized a scene from my camping trip last summer in BC. Next I added line details using coloured micron pens. 

Coming Home, India Ink and Coloured Micron Pens on Bristol, 11"x14", 2016, Mallory Donen

Afterwards I scanned the above image using a flatbed scanner. I used Photoshop to generate the panorama landscape image below. 

It's amazing how much you can miss things from home that you often take for granted. Can't wait to come home and be reunited with the mountains.